SQUAWK! Bird Houses Like You've Never Seen them!

This week's featured Artisan, Syd Baker,a former Hallmark Artist, is using his gifts to give our feathered friends lovely custom homes. Syd's shop, SQUAWK, is chock full of avian architectural delights.

These birdhouses are specifically built to attract the smaller birds. These whimsical custom homes will bring a smile to your face as well as to all the chickadees and goldfinches in your area. Keep a close watch and you WILL see a bird smile. Truly. Keep an eye on his shop, too, because he'll have Squawk miniatures for your holiday shrub later in the year!

To learn more about Syd and his wellspring of creativity, check out his website: Other 3D Lands. You will be amazed, amused and I bet you'll giggulate as much as my friend, Becky, does!

Bead Crochet- Literally!

When bead artists talk about bead crochet they're speaking of crocheting with some sort of string that's been strung with beads and on the yarn-over, feeding beads down. Me? I took it a step farther. I spun around two yards of Supplemax with a seed mix, and tied off the ends. Then I literally single-crocheted the bead string itself. No yarn-over, no feeding of beads. This one is an experiment. It's a row of chain stitch to 6.5 inches and a row of single crochet back. Next one will be two rows of single crochet and then I'm going to fold it in half, length-wise and stitch the side closed with supplemax. It's clear so it can't be seen, especially if you're feeding it through beads as you go. Go up and down the seam two or three times for strength.

On this one, I'll make the clasp loop out of stretchy so that the loop doesn't have to be huge. I kinda like this idea. I'm sure "true" bead crochet people would gasp in horror, but hey - what's art about if not creativity and innovation?

Beads, Flowers and Dragonflies!

I originally created this as a spiraled suncatcher and then I thought: "Hey - it's wire - it's got lots of uses!" So I wrapped it around a black metal wall sconce. While it's not long enough to go around the way I wanted it to, it gives me the inspiration to make some that ARE long enough. This is created from beads spun onto 24 ga wire - just a random selection of leftover beads, french beaded leaves, victorian beaded flowers, lucite flowers with Swarovski Crystal stamens and pistils and Swarovski Crystal dragonflies with beaded wings. It was easy, fun and it's truly beautiful. (If I do say so myself!) I just sold one like this at the gift shop where I sell some of my work - AND a photo of a piece similar to this one was featured in the Baltimore Sun this past Saturday! YAY!

Wire Crochet Bracelet

Tonight I was playing with a piece of 30 ga silver wire, just twisting it through my fingers and for some reason I decided I was going to do some wire crochet. I've never done it, but I figured what the heck - may as well try. I gave it a go with some brass wire first, and while not difficult to do, it's not as easy as you'd think. I found I do it best with the 30 ga dead soft, and this is what I made. It's not finished yet - I will be adding more beads and the ends have to be finished. I'm going to fashion a loop and crystal clasp for it, I think.

I'm wire-wrapping the ends, creating a scalloped edge:

You have to use a gentle hand when doing wire crochet, otherwise your stitches will be too tight and you have to be very careful to make them uniform.

The bottom row is teardrop freshwater pearls spaced with pink Swarovski bicone crystals. I scattered crystals throughout the bracelet and the last row is all clear Swarovski bicones.

I have a large round faceted AB crystal I'm going to use as a "button" and create a loop closure of 2mm swarovski clear round crystals.

4 Tips for Designing Jewelry on Demand - Daily Blogs - Beading Daily

This is an incredibly concise and wonderful how-to for designing a beaded project from Jean Campbell, an award-winning bead designer. If you're like me, you'll read this and think: "wow! I've been making it harder on myself than I had to!" Happy Reading.


4 Tips for Designing Jewelry on Demand - Daily Blogs - Beading Daily

Vintage Beaded Bag - Totally Blog-worthy!

I found this at my local thrift store for $1.98 today. Naturally I snatched it before anyone else could. No thought required. It's perfect inside and out. Not a bead missing, no yellowing on the silk lining, original Hong Kong label, frame in excellent shape, clasp perfect, strap perfect. I couldn't believe it and since I do a lot of beading, I felt this purse was blog-worthy. If anyone who sees this post can identify the age for me, I'd be grateful. I'm thinking 30's-40's.

Bead Spinner - it ROCKS!!

I love my bead spinner. This is a suncatcher I made tonight. I think next one, I'll make the dragonflies, flowers and leaves in advance, wire them to the bare wire and thread the leftover wire tails through the beads already on the wire and then load more beads - that way the wire for the add-ons won't show as much. At least that's the plan. :)